For Freedom, You Have to Die
by Goma-Ryu
Summary: There was only way they could be free and that was to die.


So I've seen bits and pieces of Season 2 and saw some of the episode where Treville gets dismissed and this sparked my story because I can't work on my homework until I get it out of my head.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own BBC Musketeers.

**Warning: **I guess a small spoiler and just to let everyone know, I typed this up real fast so I apologize for any grammar errors.

* * *

"It's been four days," Porthos said.

"Yes it has," Athos said, not looking at his friend as he focused on the road before him.

"It's been four days since that blasted Captain Evrard sent us out here."

"Very good Porthos," Aramis said, eyeing the road like Athos. "You can remember up to four days ago."

"Four days since he split us up. Us here and d'Artagnan back at the garrison."

Athos sighed and leaned back, hiding back in the bushes. It's been a week since Treville was relived of his duty and left. A week since they got a new captain, one of Rochefort closest friend and had managed to get the King to agree to let him be the captain of the Musketeers. Four days ago, Captain Evrard had gotten word of villagers gathering together to take down the King and had sent him, Aramis, and Porthos out to this abandon road. Why wasn't d'Artagnan there? Since he refused to kill for the King he was punished to stay at the garrison until further notice.

"Porthos. d'Artagnan can handle himself without us," Aramis said.

"I trust d'Artagnan. I don't trust Captain Evrard."

"Porthos. We'll be out of here before you…"Aramis never got to finish his sentence when he heard a horse running down the road. He pushed some leaves out of his way and held up a hand for his friends to stop. He recognized the blue cape anywhere. This was a Musekteer.

"Aramis! Athos! Porthos!"

"It's Lucas," Aramis said, stepping out of their hiding spot. "Lucas. What are you doing here?"

"It's d'Artagnan."

"What about d'Artagnan?" Porthos asked, stomping over to Lucas.

"He collapsed while training. He's not looking too good."

"When?" Athos asked, hearing Aramis swear and then was gone to get their horses.

"About two hours ago."

Athos nodded and turned around to see Aramis with their horses. He got onto his horse and took off, knowing Aramis and Porthos would be right behind him. Orders be damned. Their youngest needed them. It took only an hour to get back to the garrison and the moment he rode in, all the Musketeers stopped what they were doing and looked at them with sad faces.

"Where is he?" Aramis demanded, getting off his horse.

"He wanted to be in his room," one said.

The three men nodded and made their way towards the rooms, climbing the stairs to get to d'Artagnan's room. Just as they walked up to the door, Captain Evrard walked up to them.

"Gentlemen, I didn't authorize you to leave your post."

"We don't need authorization to be with a brother," Athos said, opening d'Artagnan's door. The sight before him almost brought him to his knees. There, laying on bed, was a very sick d'Artagnan. A fellow Musketeer was sitting by his bedside with a wet washcloth in hand which he dabbed at d'Artagna's sweaty forehead.

"Oh Lord," Aramis whispered. He's never seen d'Artagnan in such a state. He was pale though his face red with fever. He was shivering and had about four blankets covering him.

"He's been asking for you," the Musketeer said sadly.

"Thank you. We'll take it from here," Aramis said.

Athos took the chair the Musketeer had been sitting and grabbed d'Artagnan's hand and rested a hand on the feverish forehead. "d'Artagnan?"

Porthos pulled over two more chairs on the other side of the bed and sat down at d'Artagnan's feet, making sure Aramis had room to work if needed.

"Athos?"

The three couldn't believe the weakness in their friend's voice. How could all this happen in four hours?

"Yes, I'm here. So are Aramis and Porthos."

"It seems we can't leave you alone, even for four days," Aramis said, wincing at the heat radiating off his friend. He grabbed the bowl of water off the side table and took the cloth to get it wet.

"It wasn't this bad two days ago," d'Artagnan said, sighing when the cold cloth touched his forehead. He pulled the blankets even closer to his chin and closed his eyes. "Thank you for coming."

"Like we would stay away," Porthos said grabbing d'Artagnan's ankle.

The next morning, Captain Evrard just walked out of his office when he heard a pain yelling coming from the rooms to his right. More importantly, d'Artagnan's room. Taking off in the direction, he just made it to the landing when d'Artagnan's door flew open and Porthos stormed out of the room, tears running down his face.

"Porthos?" Captain Evrard just watched as Porthos stormed passed him and stomped down the stairs. He looked inside the room and saw Athos and Aramis, one knelling on each side of the bed, a sheet covering d'Artagnan's body. "Athos? Aramis?"

"He passed away in the middle of the night," Aramis said, looking up, eyes red with tears.

"I'm sorry," Captain Evrard said, actually meaning it. "I will have someone come and collect his body."

"NO!" Athos yelled.

"Athos."

"He had asked us to take his body back home. Back to Gascony," Aramis explained. "He wants to be buried with his family and he wanted Athos, Porthos, and myself to deliver his body to his Uncle."

"Lets go see if King Louis will pardon you three for this then." He watched as the two men walked out of the room before walking over to the bed and pulled the sheets back. The boy's face looked white as death and when he placed a hand on a cheek, he shivered at the coldness he felt and never felt the familiar feeling of a pulse. He recovered the boy and closed the door, telling a Musketeer to guard the room and no one is to enter.

"Your majesty," Captain Evrard said, walking into the room where the King and Queen were seated. Rochefort stood beside the King's chair while Constance next to the Queen.

"Captain Evrard," King Louis said. He then looked behind the man and was shocked to see Aramis, Athos, and Porthos following behind, eyes red and tears running down their cheeks. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes there is, your Majesty," Athos said, walking up and bowing. "We came to report to you that d'Artagnan of the Musketeers had passed away last night."

Constance couldn't hold in a gasp as her hands flew to her mouth, eyes wide with fear and sadness. Queen Anne grabbed her free hand while her own flew to her mouth. Even King Louis and Rochefort looked shocked.

"Are you sure?" King Louis asked.

"Yes," Aramis said, bowing as he step forward. "We were sent on a mission when a Musketeer came to us and told us d'Artagnan had collapsed. When we arrived d'Artagnan had said he was feeling ill for two days. We stayed with him all through the night and we believe that while we slept, he had passed away."

King Louis nodded, taking it all in. Sure he was disappointed in his Musketeers at the moment, but never have he thought he would lose one to an illness. He took notice of the three distraught faces of his Musketeers and knew this was hitting them harder.

"With your permission," Porthos said with a bow, "d'Artagnan had requested when we arrived that if he didn't make it if we would take his body back home to Gascony to be buried with his father and mother."

King Louis stood up with a nod. "You three have my permission to take d'Artagnan back home."

"Thank you, your Majesty," the three Musketeers said, bowing as one. They turned and left, getting themselves ready for the journey to Gascony.

"Captain Evrard, may I have a word with you?" Rochefort asked, taking the man by the arm and leading him away from the King and Queen. "Are you sure he's dead and not some joke?"

"I checked the boy myself," Captain Evrard said. "He was ice cold and no pulse. He was dead. I even witnessed him collapse as well."

"Did you give him…"

"No. I never had time to give it to him. This is the real thing."

Rochefort nodded and had him leave. He had planed on having d'Artagnan killed himself but if an illness got in the way of his plan, then who was he to judge. All he had to worry about were the other three and he knew he had at lest a week to plan that.

Two days later Captain Evrard arrived at the palace, holding three bloody Musketeers pauldrons. There was a search set out but no one could find the bodies of the four Musketeers. Gascony was even checked but the villagers all said that no Musketeers came to them with one of their own to bury. The next day, King Louis held a funeral for the three fallen Musketeers as well as a funeral for d'Artagnan, since he knew d'Artagnan never got to have one if his body never made it home.

**Four months later**

"Very good. Now, take a deep breath and lets go again."

"Come on, we've been practicing for three hours."

"Need to make sure you still remember how to fight."

"Treville! Please tell Athos we need a break!"

"Sorry d'Artagnan but I have to agree."

"Aramis? Porthos?"

"Sorry lad," Porthos laughed, sitting under a tree, legs stretched out. "I'm having too much fun watching Athos put you on your ass."

Aramis just laughed, glad to finally see his friends finally at peace and relaxed. _Well, somewhat relaxed_, he thought as Athos knocked d'Artagnan on his ass once more. He leaned back against the tree and looked around their new home. It was rather large house, big enough for five grown men and then some on the outskirts of Gascony. One had to go through Gascony in order to get to them. He was about to close his eyes when he spotted a rider coming up the road. "Treville, are you expecting company?"

"I believe I am, though it's early," he said. He stood up, brushing woodcarvings from his pants and walked towards the road the rider was coming down.

"Who is that?" Athos asked, stopping the training and made sure d'Artagnan was right next to him.

"Treville is expecting someone," Aramis, standing up, as well as Porthos. He brought his hand to his eyes, shielding them from the sun and smiled when he saw the horse riding next to the Treville, a young woman holding a baby. "It seems to be a woman and a baby."

"And Treville said he never got married," Porthos laughed. He stopped laughing when he heard Aramis gasp. "What is it?"

"It's Constance with Dauphin," he said.

The four men looked at one another and walked to meet them half way. To say they were shocked to see Constance the feeling was shared when Constance saw the four men, the four dead men, walking towards her.

"Gentlemen, I'm sure you know Constance so introductions are not necessary," Treville said, stopping Constance's horse and helping her down, her grip on the baby never relaxed.

"You all lied to us," Constance said, tears running down her face. "You made us believe that you had died!"

"What is she talking about and why does she have a baby?" d'Artagnan asked, looking at his friends in confusion.

Aramis cleared his throat and looked at Treville. "Treville, I think it's time for d'Artagnan to take the brew I made him to help with his headaches, since he's neglecting to let us know himself, so why don't you take him and Dauphin inside while we talk."

Treville nodded and was able to take Dauphin from her and motioned for d'Artagnan to follow, leaving the three men to take care of things.

"What the hell is going on? d'Artagnan knows exactly what I'm talking about because he's the one that hurt me the most." Constance still had nightmares of the d'Artagnan's still form. She had wanted to see him before the others took him home and that had forever haunted him, and then getting word that Aramis, Athos, and Porthos were missing on their way to Gascony made it worst.

"Before we explain, let me just say that if we didn't do all this, then we would all really be dead," Aramis said.

"What do you mean?"

"Rochefort has been trying to kill us since day one," Athos said. "He's been planning everything that has happened to us to either destroy the Musketeers or get us killed. It was only a matter of time before he succeeded."

"So, we sent word to Treville asking if he had a safe place for us to stay and he let us stay with him so we set up these fake deaths," Aramis said.

"Except d'Artagnan's," Porthos said, under his breath.

"Yes. I'm afraid we actually had to have him die," Aramis said with a shutter. "I was able to come up with a potion that would stop a human heart for only a few hours We had to time it right so when made it half way to Gascony, he woke up."

"I don't follow."

Aramis sighed and brushed his hands through his hair. "Evrard is working with Rochefort. One of the Musketeers that was working at the palace one day had over heard them talking about sending us out on a bogus mission and leave d'Artagnan behind. The plan was Evrard was going to kill d'Artagnan before we got back and then have us killed, saying we have gone crazy over the death of d'Artagnan."

"So this was all planed?"

"Yes. I told d'Artagnan to take the potion at certain time so it had time to work in his system, make his heart stop at a certain time, and when we were half way to Gascony he woke up."

"And your pauldrons?

"Treville had asked a couple of the villagers in Gascony to lend us some pigs blood. We smeared it on our pauldrons and had a villager send it to the outskirts of Paris and leave it on the ground. We knew either a Red Guard or Musketeer would patrol and find them," Porthos said.

"And when the villagers were questioned, they all said you never made it," Constance said, know understanding. "The villagers were in on this the whole time."

"When Treville told them one of their own was in trouble, of course they stood up to help," Athos said.

"Then why did he act like he doesn't know what's going on?"

"I fear the down part of this who charade was the amount of time d'Artagnan was dead. With no blood circulating to his brain, there would be side effects. In d'Artagnan's case is memory loss. He cannot remember certain parts and that includes what we had to do in order to keep us all safe. He remembers you, us, and only training to become a Musketeer."

"Did you explain to him what was going on?"

"No. We told him that last week there was an explosion at the garrison and he was knocked out. Told him the garrison could not be saved but not worry about a place to live or money. We also plan on keeping to this story," Athos said.

"Now that you know what's been happening to us, what about you?" Aramis asked, "and why do you have Dauphin?"

"Yesterday some soldiers had managed to take down the Red Guards and attacked the palace. Queen Anne gave me Dauphin and told me to take him and run. I had been writing to Treville for awhile after I wrote him to tell him of your deaths and he had said if I needed a place to stay for awhile I could visit him. Just as I snuck out the secret door, I saw the King and Queen go down."

"What of Rochefort?" Athos asked.

"The last I saw him, he was just standing around while the fight was taking place."

"What of the Musketeers?" Porthos asked.

"King Louis had dismissed them and closed the garrison."

"Did you know these soldiers?" Aramis asked.

"I've never seen them before."

"Well, you have had a long ride," Aramis said. "Why not go in and see to a nice rest." Aramis watched as Constance walk away before turning to his friends. "There was nothing we could do there."

"So you're saying we did the right thing by leaving them to fend for themselves?" Porthos asked.

"We would have been dismissed anyway. I believe this is Rochefort's doing and with his hand pulling the strings this would still end the same way," Athos said, walking towards the house.

Aramis followed a little behind and just smiled. As much as he loved being a Musketeer he just couldn't work for a King that was being a spoiled brat and blaming them for his downfalls. Dismissing Treville was the step and they knew it was a matter of time before they were next. Being dead was the only way they could get their freedom and now he got his freedom, as well as a chance to have a son he's always wanted.

* * *

I am sorry I killed the Queen but I had to do something about King Louis. He was becoming a brat from what I've seen and read. Plus, Aramis needed some loving so he gets to have his son :)


End file.
